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 Hemitrichia minor
SynonymsPerichaena minor
Hyporrhama minor
BiostatusPresent in region - Indigenous. Non endemic
Article: Stephenson, S.L. (2003). Myxomycetes of New Zealand. Fungi of New Zealand. Ngā Harore o Aotearoa 3: xiv + 238 p. Hong Kong: Fungal Diversity Press.
Description: Fruiting body a stalked to occasionally sessile sporangium (or more rarely somewhat plasmodiocarpous), scattered or in small groups, 0.3–0.8 mm tall (or up to 2 mm long when plasmodiocarpous). Sporotheca globose to subglobose or pulvinate when sessile, dull yellow to yellowish brown, sometimes glossy, darkening with age, dotted with large verrucae, 0.2–0.5 mm in diameter. Stalk, when present, thick, rugulose, black, flared at the apex, up to two-thirds the total height. Hypothallus inconspicouous. Peridium single, membranous, minutely papillose or bearing granular deposits and usually conspicuous, dark, rarely pale warts, dehiscence irregular. Capillitium a loose, flaccid reticulum consisting of filaments 2–3 µm in diameter, with numerous expansion and constrictions, marked with many, often spirally arranged, blunt spines or warts and sometimes spines up to 2 µm long. Spores yellow in mass, pale yellow by transmitted light, minutely warted, 9–11 µm in diameter. Plasmodium watery cinnamon.
Habitat: Dead plant debris, bark of living trees, and the dung of herbivorous animals.
Distribution: Cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1976). First reported from New Zealand by Rawson (1937), based on specimens collected in Dunedin and South Canterbury.
Notes: The prominent dark, peg-like warts on the peridium are distinctive and make this an easy species to identify. Two varieties have been recognised for Hemitrichia minor; var. pardina for forms with the conspicuous warts on the peridium, and var. minor for forms lacking these warts. Only H. minor var. pardina is known from New Zealand. Ing (1999) proposed that this variety be recognised as a distinct species (H. pardina).
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